Will Allmendinger be driving for Forsythe much longer?
06/17/06 As it turns out the deal AJ Allmendinger signed with Forsythe Racing is for two races only, but AJ's hopeful it will become a long-term relationship.
"I think we just want to jell as a team and see if we work well together. I think we proved that today. So really we're just kind of looking towards the rest of the year, just getting through this weekend, seeing how it goes, then Cleveland.
"I know everything's going to fall into place. I've really enjoyed my time here already within just a day that I've been here. The group of guys on both cars are great to be around. Just the atmosphere in the team, it's pleasant and it's a lot of fun to be there. I know everything will fall into place. We just got to do our jobs."
And it's obvious that Paul Tracy thinks his new teammate is the right man for the job.
"I think it's good. I think obviously Mario and I kind of went quite far apart in terms of setups, likes and dislikes. You know, Mario had a very difficult time driving the car that our team has kind of developed over the last couple of years with myself and Pat. There's been a lot of time and a lot of money spent going down this avenue. Mario just didn't seem to want to work within that box. The team felt it was holding the team back in terms of developing the car.
"A lot of things happened, not really so much the setup differences, but the two incidents. I think that really, you know, like it said, kind of tipped Gerry over center. That was really it. It just kind of all happened that AJ became available, I know Gerry was looking at some other drivers, then all of a sudden AJ became available. The first test was this weekend. Can he drive the setup that we've migrated towards? Obviously, he can. He's on the pole.
"Now we've started working today really for the first time this year on how do we make both cars better at the same time. I think we still have a lot of work to do to catch Newman/Haas, but I think we're in a much better position right now."